• V Ubino.
• Azienda Ospedaliera, San Giovanni Battista, Torino, Servizio Infermieristico UOA Chirurgia 7, Italy.
• Minerva Chir. 2003 Dec 1; 58 (6): 869-73.

AbstractWard nurses have a central role in postoperative pain management. Pain medication is prescribed by anesthetists and surgeons, but it is ward nurses who spend more time with patients and have the responsibility for assessing patient's pain intensity, administering some prescribed analgesic treatments and monitoring their efficacy. Regular monitoring of patients' pain intensity by ward nurses is important in assessing the standard of care provided and in early detection of treatment side effects. New analgesic techniques such as epidural analgesia require extensive, systematic monitoring by nursing staff. There is increasing interest in establishing close cooperation and partecipation of ward nurses in day- to- day management of pain. In conclusion the quality of care provided by ward nurses is an important factor for the quality of patients' postoperative care, and nursing staff should be given the support they need to effectively treat pain.

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